Recently, I have noticed that I get terribly annoyed with a particular reference that people use way too often.
And it lies with one word: Africa.
Whenever people want to refer to one thing or another that ties into one country or region of the continent, they for some strange reason find it to be more descriptive to just say that it occurs "in Africa".
Excuse my language, but WHAT DOES THAT FUCKING MEAN?
Does that mean that something is prevalent in the bustling towns of southwestern Nigeria? Or in the mountain-carved regions of northern Sudan? Or perhaps that refers to the rain forests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or maybe the Namib Desert that resides in Namibia (WOW, look at that, there are deserts other than the Sahara; the more you know!).
Perhaps you see what I'm getting at. You cannot, cannot, CANNOT keep referring to the whole continent when talking about specific things. Each nation is distinct, with its own identity and its own people, culture, and history, and by lumping them all together does a disservice to that diversity, as well as allows the rest of the world get away with the ignorance that lies behind the use of this broad categorization.
Honestly, I much prefer that you to just PICK A FUCKING COUNTRY. Like truly. It is probably not far from the truth that some issues are present in some place, in some form in every African country. Like healthcare access disparities (I mean, this issue is even present right here at home in the US). To me, it sounds much more intelligent and much less ignorant to speak of healthcare issues occurring in Malawi than to just hand-wave it and say that it is occurring "in Africa" (for the record, I do know of specific healthcare issues that exist in Malawi). This being said, the even more intelligible thing is to do some research before you open your mouth to make the lazy 'Africa' claim. If you want to say that something is happening somewhere, FIND THAT PLACE WHERE IT IS HAPPENING. So simple. Especially in these times, when we can access information within seconds. (And don't worry; Google is much more forgiving than I am when it comes to these things.)
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